THE ZOOLOGIST 
’ 
No. 852.—June 15th, 19172. 
THE PHARYNGEAL, TEETH OF FISHES. 
By Contonzan C. EK. SHepnerp (Indian Army). 
(Continued from vol. xv. p. 456.) 
CYPRININA. Tue CaRPs. 
In these, the most numerous subfamily of the Cyprinidae, we 
have a totally different formation of the pharyngeal teeth and 
provision of teeth in the buccal cavity to that in the families of 
fishes already dealt with. The absence of any teeth on the 
gill-rakers and first four branchial arches is marked, as is also 
that of the upper pharyngeal teeth. The lower pharyngeal 
. teeth, instead of being on two more or less elongated plates on 
the floor of the gullet covered with a large number of small 
teeth, consist each side of one, two, or three series of molariform 
or unciform (i.e. hooked) or cuneiform (i.e. wedge-shaped) teeth. 
Day, when writing on Indian fishes, describes some of the 
long tapering wedge-shaped teeth as plough-shaped, evidently 
having in his mind’s eye the shape of the Indian ploughshare, 
which it resembles, and his definition of this shape will be 
adhered to where necessary in the following descriptions. The 
lower pharyngeal teeth are deciduous, and capable of being 
reproduced, there being in the mucous membrane surrounding 
these teeth a number of embryo teeth evidently intended to take 
the place of the larger ones in use as they fall off. Many of 
these spare teeth are shown in the illustrations. These lower 
pharyngeal teeth in the masticating process to which this family 
submits its food bite against a hard, horny, callous pad that is 
attached to the mucous lining of the upper part of the pharynx, 
and which is strengthened and supported by a concavity of the 
basi-occipital bone, very much marked in some species, less so 
Zool. 4th ser. vol. XVI., June, 1912. R 
